MURRAY – Marshals Head Coach Gus Gillespie felt his team’s defensive effort was the best he’s seen all year in their 56-44 4th District semi-final win over Calloway County Tuesday.
“I saw signs of this back in June at Ole’Miss”, Gillespie said. “All year-long I thought that’s going to be our bread and butter and it simply has not.” Gillespie said his team was more tuned into the defensive style that wins games against Calloway than they have all season.
A 3-pointer by Dawson Jolley got the Marshals 1st quarter scoring going which was followed by a basket from Skyler Smith and Dylan Walters for a 7-0 lead. The Marshals went on to lead 12-1 before threes were exchanged by Calloway’s Isaiah Butler and D.J. Pigg and finished out the quarter leading 19-7.
Free throws by Jolley opened the 2nd quarter on a 14-point Marshall lead, cut to 11 on a basket and foul on Butler. A technical called on Calloway Head Coach Terry Birdsong sent Pigg to the line, making the second to give the Marshals a 22-10 lead.
The rest of the half was highlighted by a nice block by Jolley and pass from Pigg to Matthew French at the buzzer that gave the Marshals a 28-18 halftime lead.
Pigg and French hit consecutive threes to open the second half followed by an a basket and free throw by Jolley that gave the Marshals a 19-point lead, their largest of the game. Calloway went on to out-score the Marshals 8-4 on scoring by Kamden Price, Payton Johnson and Jonah Brannon to cut the Marshals lead to 15 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
Calloway had their best quarter of the game in the 4th, a quarter filled by trips to the free throw line by both teams. Combined, 65 free throw attempts were made in the game with the edge going to Calloway County who hit 68.5% compared to 66.6% for the Marshals.
The Marshals were out-scored 18-14 in the 4th quarter, holding on for the 12-point win, their largest margin over the Lakers this season.
Walters led the Marshals with 18 points and 7 rebounds. Jolley added 14 points, had 4 steals and was perfect from the free throw line hitting 7 of 7.
The Marshals will play Murray Thursday in the 4th District Championship game. Both of their regular season games against the Tigers were losses, the first by 7 points and the second by 4. Win or lose, the Marshals will advance to the 1st Region tournament after missing it last year following a 4th District semi-final loss to Murray.
SCORING
Calloway: Johnson 13, Brannon 11, Price 8, Butler 8, Darnell 4
Marshall: Walters 18, Jolley 14, Pigg 11, French 8, Smith 4, Reed 1
Calloway: Field Goals 8/25, 3-pointers 4/20, Free Throws 24/35, Rebounds 33, Fouls 22, Turnovers 10
Marshall: Field Goals 16/38, 3-pointers 4/9, Free Throws 20/30, Rebounds 27, Fouls 25, Turnovers 6
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| Calloway | 7 | 11 | 8 | 18 | 44 |
| Marshall | 19 | 9 | 13 | 15 | 56 |